The sensibility of Victorian poetry with reference to at least one specific poem
Victorians early-, mid-, late- We cannot characterize them at once. It’s a long process, intellectual development. mid-Victorian period: * Duty, earnestness, everything was changing very quickly, enthusiasm, sense of confidence, Darwin destroyed the picture of God-made world late-Victorian period: * loss of faith, certainties >> melancholy, sadness, * Aesthetic movement at the end of century Victorian poets Alfred Tennyson (1809 – 1892) Robert Browning (1812 – 1889) Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888) Arthur Hugh Clough (1819 – 1861) Poets of the first half of Victorianism were real children of Romanticism and they adored romantics as their teachers and ideals. But they lived in different social position. The social system was changing very quickly. The new values were established. They couldn’t be blind to industrialization and the problems it brought. The religion was being undermined by skepticist analysis of the Bible and findings of geology and biology. The society was losing faith. Those early-Victorians felt they can’t believe in God any longer. But they lived in society which believed and presented it publicly. These Victorians were a kind of philosophic vanguard – it is not a pleasant position. In the question of atheism they were not that open as Shelly. They hold back as real Victorian skeptics, they coped with spiritual questions. Mathew Arnold * Didn’t write a single poem after he was 40. Later wrote long prose work Culture and Anarchy 1869, about culture in general. Beside Carlyle, Ruskin and Mill one of the biggest critics of Victorian civilization. * His poetry is wonderful. Formally effective. But he wasn’t able to develop an original style. Maybe because he could hardly cope with Victorian world. He often alludes to other authors (Shakespeare, E. Bronte, Byron) as if he wanted to express in their words rather than in his own. Keats’ voice is very strong in his poetry. * His verse is in learned, melancholic, nostalgic tone but is not that personal as Tennyson. =Dover Beach= * His greatest poem. Image of the sea, of the ebb and flow. The noise is unpleasant though. The sea envelops the land at high tide and is unfurled at low tide. Only naked pebbles remain. * The dreamlike world has nothing positive about it. No joy, love peace, we are swept by struggles. * About decline of religious belief. Is not appalling as if it was his personal experience. The poem is not about him losing his own belief but about what it feels like living at time when the belief is declining. * Universality of sadness. The only certainty is love. There is nothing else we can lean on. * He is not fighting against losing belief with his poem but using poetry to reconcile with its loss. * White cliffs in Dover, evening moderate, calm, kind, light images, sight images – 1st stanza. * 2nd stanza – describes the sound of sea at night, sadness is eternal. * 3rd stanza – melancholy, exaggerates, sea = sea of faith – speaking about faith. * 4th – now it’s only melancholy that remained from the faith. * He wrote the poem on his honeymoon. =Alfred Tennyson = * The greatest representative figure of the Victorian age. Typical person of that time. His ideal was Keats and he was criticized for it. Grew up at a farm. * Exceptionally musical poet. His writing encompasses many poetic styles and includes some of the finest idyllic poetry. * Melancholy everywhere in his poetry. Eventually he won his audience by it. * There was always big gap between what he personally doubted, unease and reservations and his desire to represent his era and to serve the queen. Idylls of the King - a series of romantic and picturesque poems. He idealizes King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In Memoriam - a poem inspired by the death of his friend. Robert Browning * He is especially noted for perfecting the dramatic monologue (Dramatic Lyrics) - a literary composition in which the speaker reveals his or her character. Bells and Pomegranates - a series of poems about a poor Venetian girl. William Morris * the only narrative poet of this era, he took his themes from various sources. Life and Death of Jason - from ancient Greece Drama in the 19th century there was a great decline in the English drama, due to censorship. George Bernard Shaw * wanted to re-examine the middle class’s assumptions about right and wrong Mrs. Warren’s Profession * an open discussion of the problems of prostitution. It is an uncompromising criticism of the middle class and its hypocrisy. Pygmalion * Story of a poor glower girl who rises in society thanks to her intelligence and ambition.